Riverheads gets ‘ugly’ win

STUARTS DRAFT — Riverheads went into Wednesday’s cross-county rivalry game against Stuarts Draft needing a win any way it could get it.

The Gladiators didn’t put on their best performance, but came out on top with a 45-36, foul-filled win.

“It’ wasn’t very pretty, but if the only way we can win is ugly, than we will take it,” said Riverheads coach Dickie Bell.

Riverheads finished the game only making 14 of its 31 shots from the foul line.

Bell said he was still happy with the performance, even though there is a lot of room for improvement.

“I thought it was a good win for us because we needed to win a ball game,” Bell said. “We played well the last couple of games and came close against a tough Glenvar team. The girls played hard and stuck with it. We made some mental mistakes. We are trying to put together a team, but we have a lot of new parts.”

After the Cougars took a 2-0 lead when Katie Yancey hit a bucket, the Gladiators’ Katie Williams and Rebecca Grubb answered with back-to-back scores to give the Gladiators the lead for good. Riverheads finished the first quarter outscoring the Cougars 13-4.

The Cougars began to put their offense together in the second stanza with an 8-3 run before the halftime break, but it wasn’t enough. Riverheads led 20-14 going into the locker room.

Several of the Draft players were already in foul trouble by the time the second half began. The Cougars finished the game with 24 personal fouls to Riverheads’ 18. The Gladiators started the fourth quarter, already in the double bonus allowing them to maintain the lead.

The third quarter was a push with both teams scoring 11 points, and Riverheads barley outscored the Cougars in the fourth for the 45-36 win.

Only one player scored double digits in the game, Riverheads’ Hayley Morris (12). Bell said that he didn’t expect for his team to ever have one player control the offense.

“That’s what we are hoping to do,” Bell said. “We like the balance. I don’t think we have anyone that will get 20 a night.”

Earlier in the season, Riverheads lost to Draft during the Augusta County Tip-off Classic. Bell said that his team improved since the two teams’ last meeting.

“I thought that we made great adjustments,” Bell said. “The first time we played them we went to Pittsburgh the second half. We scored 11 points in the second half. I thought we prepared for what they do very well. They didn’t bother us except when we made mental mistakes.”

Riverheads (2-4, 0-0 Shenandoah) will continue its non-district schedule today, traveling to Alleghany. The Cougars (2-4, 0-0 Southern Valley) will be back in action after the holidays, traveling to Broadway on Jan. 2.

Notes: The Riverheads’ JV team won its contest 36-15 … Katie Coffey led the Gladiators with 11 points in the JV game and the Cougars’ McKenna Carter scored six.